I took it in to the shop to have a bent shaft fixed and have the steering cables replaced (do to water in the lines). The place I normally take it to quoted me $1200 for parts and labor for the steering cables and $1200 for straightening the shaft. They said they thinking would take upwards of 9 hours of labor for the steering cables alone. They told me that because of how inaccessible the cables are below the deck the labor would add up. Is this true?

$2,400 seems excessive to me. I am taking it to a couple other shops to get hard estimates. The MC dealer in town told me they thought that price of $2400 sounded excessive and another shop told me they thought worst case scenario the steering cable labor would take 4 hours. He said $1,200 is what he would charge for a new shaft. Straightening a shaft might run $100-400.

I would appreciate anyone else's input as to what (ball park) these repairs might run. One of the shops I spoke to gave me a rough estate of $600 for both jobs. The mechanic there use to run a MC authorized service department so I want to trust him.

I am looking more for validation from you all than anything else that the first place was SERIOUSLY trying to rip me off.

I took it in to the shop to have a bent shaft fixed and have the steering cables replaced (do to water in the lines). The place I normally take it to quoted me $1200 for parts and labor for the steering cables and $1200 for straightening the shaft. They said they thinking would take upwards of 9 hours of labor for the steering cables alone. They told me that because of how inaccessible the cables are below the deck the labor would add up. Is this true?

$2,400 seems excessive to me. I am taking it to a couple other shops to get hard estimates. The MC dealer in town told me they thought that price of $2400 sounded excessive and another shop told me they thought worst case scenario the steering cable labor would take 4 hours. He said $1,200 is what he would charge for a new shaft. Straightening a shaft might run $100-400.

I would appreciate anyone else's input as to what (ball park) these repairs might run. One of the shops I spoke to gave me a rough estate of $600 for both jobs. The mechanic there use to run a MC authorized service department so I want to trust him.

I am looking more for validation from you all than anything else that the first place was SERIOUSLY trying to rip me off.

Talk to your insurance agent about the bent prop shaft- they usually cover that. $1200 seems really high, but I would have to check the cost of the parts.

$1200 for the steering cables is 3X what this should cost! I had the M/C dealer replace the cable on the 2001 205V (same layout as your boat) and the entire cost (including cable) was $400 and that was in Calif bay area where labor rates are pretty high!

I've had the boat apart and the cable is pretty easy to see and get to. This is probably a 2hr job for someone that has done this before. If the dealer isn't a M/C dealer, they probably don't know how easy this is so trying to make sure they don't eat it on the job- so I would take it to a M/C dealer. If they are an M/C dealer, I'd shop around and find another dealer that isn't trying to have you pay for their kids orthodonics bill singlehandedly

Replace the steering cable yourself. You can get the part around $120 to $180 from either marinepartsource.com or skidim.com. Even if it is your first time, it should take less than four hours and I'm being generous on the hours.

Definatley check with the insurance on the bent shaft before paying anything there. If I had to replace/straighten the shaft, I would consider a realignment as well.

__________________Being on the water is best, but when I'm not on the water I'm on TT.